South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Bowl hopes disappear as late FG beats Owls
BOCA RATON — Florida Atlantic wasn’t assured a spot in a postseason bowl with a victory, but losing its finale to Charlotte, the Owls now know they won’t reach one.
FAU lost 27-24 on a late 56-yard field goal on Senior Night at FAU Stadium on Saturday. The Owls (5-7, 3-5 Conference USA) failed to reach the sixth win necessary to reach bowl eligibility.
Charlotte kicker Jonathan Cruz drilled a linedrive just over the cross bar with 25 seconds remaining to give the 49ers (5-7, 4-4 Conference USA) t he three-point advantage. FAU had one final chance, but Willie Wright caught a pass, tried to flip it to Jovon Durante on a lateral. The ball went to the ground, and the fumble was recovered by Charlotte with three seconds left.
Junior running back Devin “Motor” Singletary, in what could be his final game with FAU, depending on his postseason decision whether to forego his senior season for the NFL, went for 88 yards on 23 carries and didn’t get into the end zone.
Quarterback Chris Robison went 13 of 22 for 273 yards and two passing touchdowns, plus another on the ground, but with FAU trailing 24-21 in the fourth quarter, coach Lane Kiffin opted for backup De’Andre Johnson.
Johnson, in his second series, led a field goal-scoring drive that was capped by Vladimir Rivas’ 33-yard kick with 3:12 remaining to tie the Owls with Charlotte at 24. Johnson had a key 9-yard run to set up a fourth-and-1 where the Owls faked a punt and tight end Harrison Bryant con- verted the run on a direct snap. Singletary rushed for 12 on third-and-long to ahead of the field goal.
The 49ers went ahead 24-21 on a 13-yard touchdown rush to the right from quarterback Hasaan Klugh off a fake inside give. Klugh also engineered the 49ers’ winning field-goal drive.
FAU took a 14-10 lead with 3:29 remaining in the first half when Robison hit tight end John Raine on a play-action fake over the top for a 23-yard touchdown.
It was Raine’s first career touchdown.
After Miramar alum Korel Smith recorded his first career interception, FAU marched 39 yards to extend its lead to 21-10 on a Robison 4-yard touchdown run. That lead was cut back to four in the middle of the third quarter when Charlotte running back Benny LeMay, who finished with 173 rushing yards, scored from 54 yards out.
FAU started with Kerrith Whyte scoring from 75 yards out on a jet sweep that was a forward pass be- hind the line of scrimmage from Robison. The Owls were up 7-0 in 13 seconds.
What followed, after such a quick score from FAU, was ball control offense from Charlotte. Backto-back 10-play drives took up a combined 11 minutes. The first resulted in a touchdown pass – from Hasaan Klugh to Mark Quattlebaum – and the second culminated in a 30-yard field goal from Jonathan Cruz. FAU went three and out in between and trailed 10-7.
The Owls came up empty on two ensuing trips to the red zone. A Vladimir Rivas 28-yard field goal attempt missed and appeared to be blocked. The next time down, coach Lane Kiffin opted to go for a first down on fourth-and-1, running Whyte off tackle but he was stuffed.
Defensive linemen Noah Jefferson and Hunter Snyder had first-half sacks. Steven Leggett had one in the second half.
dfurones@sunsentinel.com / @DavidFurones_